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Use of a Mobile Brain-Body Imaging Approach to Evaluate the Effects of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation on Gait and Brain Function in Alzheimer's Disease

Boston University Charles River Campus · with National Institute on Aging (NIA) · NCT07659964

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 50–90 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
40
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
June 1, 2026
Record last updated
August 13, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is associated with impairments in both gait and cognition, significantly increasing fall risk. Falls are a leading cause of injury-related disability in older adults, and individuals with AD experience a nearly threefold higher rate of falls compared to neurotypical older adults. There is an urgent need for fall prevention interventions tailored to the unique deficits of individuals with AD. Converging evidence suggests that interventions aiming to reduce fall risk in AD should target both gait and cognition. Rhythmic music interventions, such as Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) can harness global brain activation and auditory-motor entrainment to facilitate high-intensity exercise to alleviate AD-related neurocognitive and gait dysfunction. This study aims to assess the neural correlates of gait dysfunction in people with AD, evaluate if baseline neurocognitive impairment is predictive of the effects of RAS, and evaluate RAS benefits for individuals with AD.

Being studied: Metronome

Conditions: Alzheimer Disease (AD); Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

General Inclusion (both healthy and AD populations):

  • Community-dwelling
  • Capable of walking short community distances (approximately 10-15 minutes at a time) without assistance from another person or a device (such as a cane).
  • Able to communicate with researchers
  • Age 50-90 (inclusive)

Population-specific Inclusion criteria

  • Healthy -
  • No diagnosis of AD
  • AD population-

CERAD score of \<1.5 SD from age + education adjusted norms on delayed recall domain or one or more other cognitive domains (i.e. language, attention).

MoCA score between 20-30 MMSE score between 25-30

Exclusion Criteria

  • Presence of significant hearing impairment
  • Current orthopedic, neurologic or other medical condition that limits the ability to walk.

The MOCA, MMSE and CERAD tests will be completed in-person after the participant consents into the study. If the participant is determined to be ineligible based on their performance on these tests (compared to inclusion requirements listed above), they will be informed that they are not eligible for this study and the study visit will be cancelled. They will then be withdrawn from the study; their clinical tests and study documentation will be maintained for the purposes of completeness, but will not be used for any study analyses.

Recruiting US locations

  • Boston University Neuromotor Recovery Laboratory

    Boston, MA 02215

    Site contact: Louis N Awad, PT, DPT, PhD · 617-500-3645 · gaitlab@bu.edu

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Regina Sloutsky, PT, DPT, PhD · 617-500-3645 · reginas@bu.edu
  • Louis N Awad, PT, DPT, PhD · 617-500-3645 · louawad@bu.edu
All neurology studies in Massachusetts →
Use of a Mobile Brain-Body Imaging Approach to Evaluate the… (NCT07659964) | Bored Studies